The invention relates to a drive clutch for connecting a drive shaft with an exchangeable cylinder of a printing machine.
It is frequently necessary to exchange cylindrical, rotatable elements, such as printing cylinders, inking rollers and the like of printing machines. These exchangeable, cylindrical elements are referred to in an abbreviated fashion in this application as "cylinders".
Robots are known, with which the generally relatively heavy cylinders can be lifted out of their bearings in the machine frame after the appropriate cap pieces of the bearing have been opened or removed. If the cylinders are driven over mutually meshing gearwheels, the engagement of the teeth is cancelled automatically when the cylinder is lifted out of its bearings. Recently, however, driving systems are increasingly being used, for which the cylinders and rollers of a printing machine, instead of being driven by gearwheel transmissions synchronously with the help of a single driving motor, are driven by a separate driving motor, which is provided for each cylinder and which is seated directly on a drive shaft connected coaxially with the cylinder in question.